Your Name Means Dream

Your Name Means Dream

Your Name Means Dream Rating

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Wow. I am going to put this front and centre: if you love seeing high-quality acting and theatre, go and see ‘Your Name Means Dream’ at Red Stitch Actors Theatre. What a phenomenal play and performances by two outstanding actors.

This brilliantly written play by the highly acclaimed Oscar nominee and Obie Award-winning playwright José Rivera (famous for ‘The Motorcycle Diaries’) has hit the shores of Australia for the first time at Red Stitch Theatre in Melbourne.

The cast of two give stellar performances, which should not be a surprise with their extensive backgrounds on both screen and stage. Caroline Lee takes on the role of ‘Aislin,’ a disgruntled widow in her mid-sixties who lives alone in her run-down apartment in New York in the not-so-distant future. Lucy Ansell plays the role of ‘Stacy,’ an advanced robot sent by Aislin’s son, Roberto, to be Aislin’s live-in caregiver and companion.

The play opens with the first meeting of the two characters. Aislin, having settled into a dreary and solitary life after the death of her husband and estrangement from her son, shows resistance to this new form of caregiver sent by her son, Roberto.

Stacy is programmed to assist Aislin in living as long and healthy a life as possible while learning from Aislin along the way. She also yearns to learn as much as she can about humanity from Aislin, wanting to get as close as she can to that point within the limits of being a robot.

 

You will walk away from this play contemplating themes including the future of technology with artificial intelligence and machine learning, family, relationships, what it means to be human, health, loneliness, quality of life, death, and grief. All of that in the space of a couple of hours. What a journey!

There is so much lovely comedy intertwined within the dialogue of this play. Caroline and Lucy really carried these comedic moments, having the audience switch from laughter to tears and back again in the blink of an eye.

It was an absolute joy to watch these two actors work together. Caroline and Lucy both portrayed their characters with so much depth, nuance, and humanity—yes, even the robot! The accents were flawless, and subtle characterisations were well-engrained into each character. Lucy’s quick switches between Stacy the robot and Roberto were mesmerising to watch.

The staging was perfect for what this play needed. A nice, simple set was more than enough to still have the audience buy into the world of Aislin and Stacy, with the entire play taking place in the living room of Aislin’s very drab and dilapidated apartment. This really is a play not to be missed.

Your Name Means Dream is on at the Red Stitch Actors Theatre from October 26 to November 24. Tickets may be purchased @ https://www.redstitch.net/your-name-means-dream-2024

Photographer: James Reiser

This review also appears on It’s On The House. Check out more reviews at Whats The Show to see what else is on in your town.

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The True Cost of Living at the Melbourne Theatre Company

The Cost of Living

The Cost of Living Rating

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The phrase “cost of living” has been in the headlines for months, typically evoking the daily grind of bills and inflation. However, Cost of Living, staged by the Melbourne Theatre Company, takes this notion far beyond the material to explore what it truly costs to stay alive in emotional, psychological, and social terms. This profound play, directed by Anthea Williams, dives deeply into the human condition, unveiling our universal need for connection, love, and vulnerability.

The cast features Rachel Edmonds as Ani, Aaron Pedersen as Eddie, Mabel Li as Jess, and Oli Pizzey Stratford as John. Each character brings a unique perspective on life’s challenges, offering a rich tapestry of experiences woven together by a common thread: the need for connection. Despite their differences in race, class, and physical ability, each character is driven by an almost primal need not to be alone, and the play skillfully portrays how connection can develop from unexpected circumstances.

Powerful Performances: Characters Brought to Life
The play revolves around two distinct relationships shaped by circumstances and necessity. The first is between Ani, who is quadriplegic after a traumatic accident, and her estranged ex-husband Eddie, a truck driver struggling with guilt and a broken heart. Rachel Edmonds delivers a raw, deeply moving performance as Ani, capturing her desperation to cling to independence despite her circumstances. Aaron Pedersen, as Eddie, is poetic and tender; his vulnerability and deep love for Ani are revealed as the play progresses. Initially, under the guise of a financial and historical connection, their interactions evolve into something much deeper and more human. The complexity of their relationship is palpable, and their reconnection, though tinged with sadness, is beautiful.

The second pairing is between Jess, a student and caregiver, and John, a wealthy man with cerebral palsy. Mabel Li plays Jess with a nuanced mix of warmth and steely resolve as she navigates the world alone and fights to be seen in a society that often overlooks her. Oli Pizzey Stratford, as John, also makes his debut on the MTC stage, offering a compelling portrayal of privilege and vulnerability. Their relationship begins as a simple financial transaction. Still, as layers of emotional need are peeled back, it becomes much more complex. Both actors deliver raw, honest performances that leave the audience contemplating the nature of human interaction.

These performances are compelling because they are given by actors with disabilities, portraying lived experiences that we seldom see authentically on stage. This casting choice adds to the stakes of the play.

 

Set Design as Another Character
Matilda Woodroofe’s set design plays a significant role in telling the story. The contrasting environments reflect the socio-economic disparities between the characters, with the set serving as almost another character in the play. The movement and shifts of the stage echo the tempo of the action, fluid and purposeful. At times, it feels as though the set is breathing with the actors, reinforcing the pace and emotion of the scenes.

One standout aspect of the production is the decision to present the show without an intermission. At two hours long, a show can feel tedious without a break, but not Cost of Living. The tension and pacing build seamlessly, keeping the audience engaged from start to finish. The absence of an intermission feels like a deliberate choice to maintain the intensity of the emotional journey. It allows the audience to fully immerse themselves in the characters’ raw emotions without breaking the spell.

The Heart of Humanity
What sets Cost of Living apart is its focus on the human condition—the need to love and be loved, to connect, and to survive, regardless of physical or emotional barriers. As Eddie poignantly states midway through the play, “Th” That’s how people work.” T” in line encapsulates the entire production. Regardless of ability or circumstance, no one is immune to the human need for connection.

A common refrain in the disability community is that everyone has access needs, and the Cost of Living lays this idea bare. Each character’s physical, emotional, or financial care is examined honestly. Eddie and Jess, who live without physical disabilities, are revealed to have just as much need for care and connection as those they look after. We are reminded that humanity evolved as a collective, and our attempts to imagine otherwise are little more than fantasy.

A Final Word
Ultimately, the Cost of Living is a powerful and authentic portrayal of vulnerability and loss. It strips back the layers of what it means to be alive, exposing the actual cost of living: love, empathy, and human connection. The performances are stellar, the script beautifully crafted, and the direction tight and focused. This play will leave you thinking long after the final bow, and it’s something you’ll replicate any time soon.

Anthea Williams, her creative team, and the exceptional cast have delivered a production that reminds us of the importance of community and compassion. As Williams says, “The only thing that keeps us whole in the end is our connection to and love for one another.”

Photography by Jo Duck Production photos by Pia Johnson

This review also appears on It’s On The House. Check out more reviews at Whats The Show to see what else is on in your town.

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The Ransom Letter: A Play Reading Dressed to Impress

The Ransom Letter

The Ransom Letter Rating

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5

With actors and attendees alike dressed in their best 1920s glad rags, Marty MonStar’s “The Ransom Letter” transformed an intimate North Melbourne venue into a night of mystery, intrigue, and roaring fun.

“The Ransom Letter” follows private detective Joan Archer as she navigates crime, corruption, and depravity in 1920s Melbourne, all with her trusty gold revolver in hand. When Joan is caught in the midst of a political scandal, she must outsmart powerful players to win the game of survival. But Joan isn’t a successful private detective for nothing – she’s always one step ahead.

I felt very much like a film noir star myself as I slipped in from the rain and shook out my umbrella in the red neon lights of Club Voltaire. With the smoke machine on full blast, lights low, and Bessie Smith crooning over the speakers, the space had been transformed into a Jazz Age speakeasy. On stage, a single pendant bulb illuminated a candlestick telephone, a pack of cigarettes, and two chairs – Joan’s domain.

Play readings are often a fairly static affair, which I have no complaints about, but I’ll admit it was still pretty refreshing to see “The Ransom Letter” take it a step further, immersing the crowd with music, a set, and costumes. It gave us in the audience a little taste of the finished production and that extra touch is something I wouldn’t mind seeing more often!

Katrina Mathers played Joan with grace and humour, dishing out zingers and serving up whiskey (neat, of course). The play reading was narrated by David Macrae who, alongside Hélène Tardif, Ian Rooney, and Jonathan Griffiths, effortlessly juggled multiple roles, bouncing from stuttering suits to swanky flappers with ease. Their performances added a vibrant energy to the play, giving it charm and keeping the audience – and themselves, judging by a few off-script giggles – thoroughly entertained.

The baddie of the play, Prime Minister Howie, seems cheekily modelled after Australia’s former PM Billy Hughes, who was the founder of a couple of pretty notorious political parties. With this in mind, it’s easy to imagine what his character might be like. Ian Rooney brought Howie to life with a big personality, plenty of sleaze, and colourful language to match. Watching Joan and Howie’s frequent standoffs was a particular highlight for me – just picture two bulls butting heads, and you’ve got it.

As “The Ransom Letter” moves towards production, it’s clearly chock-full of potential. I’d love to see the main plot take centre stage from the get-go, giving that noir-esque suspense more room to build gradually. Joan’s persona shines naturally through her actions, and allowing the story to reveal the depth of her character lurking beneath her snazzy facade would add even more nuance to her role. The combo of film noir tropes and quintessential Australian humour made for an unexpected niche, but one that worked brilliantly; I hope they continue to lean into it.

“The Ransom Letter” was saucy, irreverent, and a little cheesy in all the ways the best film noirs are. I look forward to seeing it transform into a fully-fledged, glitz-and-glamour production. When the time comes, you’ll definitely find me returning in my best flapper dress and pearls.

Photography by H Long Nguyen Tran and Nelly Huang

This review also appears on It’s On The House. Check out more reviews at Whats The Show to see what else is on in your town.

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Iphigenia In Splott: Full of Heart and Swagger

Iphigenia in Splott

Iphigenia In Splott Rating

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Wow! This award-winning play, written by Gary Owen and directed by Gary Abrahams, was a sharp, funny, and insightful social commentary that had us hooked from the second we filed into our seats in the intimate venue. We were surprised by the bored-looking ‘Iphi’, our hostess for the evening, splayed out on an office chair scrolling through her phone.

A rather disarming beginning to an incredible 90-minute tour de force by lead (and only) actress Jessica Clarke, who introduces herself in a spiky but funny, straight to audience, verbal assault as the hard drinking, hard living and brazen ‘Iphi’. Delightedly calling us out from the get go on our rapidly forming judgements around who she is – a ‘stupid slag’; a drunken, loud-mouthed ‘skank’ – and she warns us that we’ll be thanking her by the end of her story. That every one of us will ‘owe’ her. She then swaggers over and forcefully drags us into her narrow, seemingly empty life in a tiny welsh town notable only for it’s utter lack of jobs, amenities and, most importantly, hope.

Jessica Clarke is visceral and frightening as Iphi, moving far too easily between dangerous, psychotic, deluded, cheeky, funny and raw before finally revealing herself to be heartbreakingly self-aware; all in an insanely high octane performance that has the audience spellbound. Iphi’s story is not unique sadly. We have all met people whose idea of a good time is to get blackout drunk and shag the nearest person just to make even a tenuous connection.

Or, as she puts it, get drunk enough that the hangover will get her through the week. Another week where, without the blackout drinking, she would have to sit in her flat with absolutely nothing to do and nowhere to go. No purpose and no money, staring down the barrel of the empty, pointless life she lives in a town that has all but disappeared due to ‘government cuts’.

 

In one largely empty, room that doubles as her flat, the pub, the doctors, the hospital and more, Iphi guides us acerbically through her strained familial relationships, romantic liaisons and delusions, difficult situations both emotional and phsyical, right to the bleeding edges of her heartbreak and all with her trademark sharp humour and her ‘get on with it’ courage, wearing her ability to take the knocks and keep getting back up, like a badge of honour. Yes, she is formidable but ultimately not unbreakable and it is this slow unfolding of Iphi’s deeper scars that makes the play so remarkable and so moving.

She represents all the young disenfranchised and marginalised working class inhabitants of tiny, run down places which the rest of us avoid at all costs. People whose lives are constrained by lack and loss and who are forced to survive on the dirty, frayed edges of ‘eyesore’ society.

Iphi aggressively points out our privilege and dares us to judge another actions when we have not walked in their shoes, all the while still longing to be seen, wanted and loved unconditionally in a world that just keeps on swinging for her.

This might all sound rather bleak but despite the grit there is so much humour here and Iphi’s story is, ultimately, transformative.

And whilst the audience was captivated and repelled in equal measure by this scrappy, dangerous human who likes a fight, a drink and a shag, by the end we were all drying our eyes on sleeves and tissues, unravelled, a little ashamed and very definitely in awe of what a ‘skank’ can do.

Seriously go and see this play. Get your tickets now. It’s only on until the 22nd September and it may well be the best thing you see this year. You can thank me later.

Book your tickets @ https://www.redstitch.net/iphigenia-in-splott-2024

Performance Dates/Times
4 Sept – 22 Sept

Wed – 6.30pm
Thur – Sat 7.30pm
Sun – 6.30pm
Sat Matinee 14th Sept – 2pm

Q&A Post Show
Thur 12th Sept – 7.30pm

Photographer: Jodie Hutchinson

This review also appears on It’s On The House. Check out more reviews at Whats The Show to see what else is on in your town.

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